Matters of the Heart
by XtremeLita
Summary: It's the Summer of 2002 in Harmony, Maine. Ethan & Cassandra just returned home to find that everything has changed. Couples: Noah/Cassie, Gwen/Hank, Ethan/Theresa.
1. Prologue - Introduction

Matters of the Heart  
  
*Prologue*  
  
Introduction  
  
  
  
Ethan and Cassandra have recently returned home to Harmony in hopes of making a new life for themselves. Noah is proceeding happily with his life, hoping to make something of himself by attending the Police Academy. Theresa is currently attending Harmony U, majoring in fashion design. Hank, suprisingly finds himself back in his hometown of Harmony, on the run from some bad people (the mob?).. once back, he finds himself once again involved with the woman he left behind. Gwen is desperately trying to put her life back together after an unforgetable break-up with Ethan Crane, and the heartbreak she's feeling now coursey of the man she thought she felt something for.  
  
It's the Summer of 2002. A summer than nobody in Harmony, Maine would live to forget. An enmourous amount of events is unfolding before everyone's eyes; Hank's retun to Harmony causes major friction in the life of Gwen Hotchkiss. Noah and Cassandra meet each other for the first time in Harmony.. can they deny their immediate attraction? Ethan finally meets Theresa, and sparks automatically fly! Will these six young adults come together in a moment of purity, and lead they're lives on the right path.. or will each and every one of them make their own regretful decision.. leaving them wondering what could've been if they'd made the right choices?  
  
  
  
Ethan Crane is the twenty-three year old son of Julian and Ivy Crane. He's Cassandra's twin brother. Ethan is your typical all-american good guy. He befriends and trusts very easily, which usually turns to be his biggest downfall. He's the handsome heir to the Crane fortune, whom always finds himself the man of many a woman's dreams. He recently broke up with his girlfriend of two years, Gwen Hotchkiss, whom he had thought was the woman he was going to marry, and has now become very cautious of an romantic relationship of any sort. Of everyone in his family, he's closest to his twin, Cassandra, whom is often his closest confidant as well. Once back in Harmony, Ethan finds himself increasingly attracted to his sister's new roomie.. Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald.  
  
Cassandra Crane is the twenty-three year old daughter of Julian and Ivy Crane. She's Ethan's twin sister. She's an feisty and stubborn spitfire. She's fairly outspoken more than half the time. Although she treats most of her family like people who don't matter, she obviously cares deeply for most of them. She's rebellious against family traditions and matters of the heart. Cassandra recently lost one of the only people that had ever truly mattered to her to an tragic automobile accident, and after coming to the painful realization that Jack is never coming back, she finds herself falling into an deep depression. The only person who knows about Cassandra's past with Jack and her depression is her twin, Ethan. Whom she's closest to.  
  
Hank Bennett is the twenty-seven year old brother of Sam Bennett. Hank is commonly known as a drifter. He had never been able to stay in one place at a time. Among the people that knew him personally in and out of high school, Hank has always been a player. He'd get himself involved with an unavailable woman, and once she eventually broke it off with her boyfriend, he'd sleep with her, then leave her. It was like that with most of the women Hank had been with. He was a disgrace in his brother's eyes; nothing he ever did pleased Sam. Aside from his womanizing ways, Hank is very compassionate towards those he loves. He'd do absolutely anything to protect his friends and family; even if it meant getting himself hurt in the process. Once back in Harmony, Hank finds himself caught between a very tempting, very dangerous love/hate relationship with Gwen Hotchkiss.  
  
Noah Bennett is the twenty-four year old son of Sam and Grace Bennett. He's your typical all-american good guy. Like his father, Noah is an compassionate young man whom always does the right thing. He's hard- working and handsome, and usually finds himself in the middle of everything that goes on around him. He's a heartbreaker among the women in Harmony, yet he still lacks to find that special someone. He's quite outspoken about certain things he believes in. He's a strong believer in god (through his mother). He's currently attending the Police Academy in hopes to become a dectective. His best friend is Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald. The two share that special brother/sister-like relationship.  
  
Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald is the twenty-one year old daughter of Pilar Lopez- Fitzgerald. Theresa is your typical too-good-to-be true girl. She's constantly doing the right thing by everyone, especially her mother, Pilar, and brother, Luis. She's a strong believer in god and the fates. She believes that with every bad outcome is a happy ending, and that someday.. she'll meet that special someone, and they'll fall madly in love with each other the moment they meet. She's sweet and innocent, yet at the drop of a hat, she can be as evil and vindictive as Ivy Crane given just cause. She's shy around guys, and has never had a boyfriend. She's currently attending Harmony U, majoring in fashion design. Her best friend is Noah Bennett. The two share that special sister/brother-like relationship.  
  
Gwen Hotchkiss is the twenty-five year old daughter of Jonathon and Rebecca Hotchkiss. Gwen, like Cassandra, is your typical fiesty spitfire- temptress. Her personality reveals that of an brash and sassy young woman who could be your best friend one moment, and your worst enemy the next, given just cause. Being the only child of Jonathon and Rebecca, Gwen had inherited the family fortune, causing a whirl-wind of men chasing after her at every corner, in hopes to marry into her family. She just broke up with Ethan, her boyfriend of over two years because of something she thought she felt for Hank Bennett. She's good friends with Ethan's twin, Cassandra. 


	2. Chapter One - Home, Sweet Home

Matters of the Heart  
  
*Chapter One*  
  
Home, Sweet Home  
  
  
  
It was a sunny June morning in the town Harmony, Maine. The Crane private jet was just landing upon the runway at the Harmony airport. Inside were two of Harmony's most reknown Cranes; Cassandra and Ethan. Cassandra and Ethan were twins, so they were rather close. In fact, they only confided in each other. It had been almost three years since either Ethan or Cassandra's last visit to Harmony, yet this one has become permenant. Both were only twelve years old when Alistair shipped them off to boarding school, and neither have socialized much with any of their family members since then; besides Sheridan and Ivy, whom both kept in close touch with. Now, being in Harmony for good would prove to be more difficult for the both of them than either would have ever imagined.  
  
Cassandra was elegantly beautiful; every aspect of her body was perfect; beautiful, sparkling blue eyes. Lucious pink lips. A light tanned complexion that fit her body beautifully. She had long, beautiful blonde strands. She had a great physic, and stood at about 5'7''. She looked exactly like her mother, Ivy. Ethan was quite handsome himself. He was tall, maybe 6'0'' at the least. His hair was the color of sand-brown. His eyes, blue-green. He had a to-die-for smile, yet lately, he found it incrediously hard to show any emotion to anything that happened around him. He was obviously still upset at the fact that Gwen had broke up with him for a man that was not only below her class, but a man that would eventually break her heart in the long run.  
  
Cassandra sat next to her brother, Ethan, modeling an beautiful, pale blue sundress, with spagetti straps that held the dress up, showing off her bare arms and shoulders. Her feet were covered in a pair of matching blue, high- heeled sandals. Shifting in her seat as the jet landed on the runway, she locked eyes with her brother. Flashing an energetic smile, she raised the champagne glass she held in her left hand, and brought it to her lips.  
  
"I can't believe I actually let you talk me into coming back here," he began lightly, stareing intensely through the window. "what the hell was I thinking?!"  
  
"Ah, but you see, brother.. you wanted to come back here. I know you did. While your mind might be telling you stay away, your heart is telling you the exact opposite." she stated boldly. "Harmony is your home. It's my home. It's where we belong." she smiled, before taking another drink from her glass.  
  
"I can't argue with that," he forced a small smile across his lips. "Harmony is my home, it's our home, but.. things are different now. I left with the intention to never return. It's been, what, a year since I left? Times change. People change. I doubt anyone would ever care that I'm back."  
  
"Nonsense!" she cried out bitterly. "Look, Ethan, I don't care what the hell you say about your mistakes and regrets during your time in Harmony. Your an wonderful, wonderful man. Your compassionate, caring, sweet, loving.. hell, you represent every quality of an angel. And that's exactly what you are, an angel. Nobody could ever forget you. Never. You've touched so many hearts in your life, and just that within itself is unforgetable."  
  
Cassandra's words brought a small smile to Ethan's lips. He was close to his sister, Cassandra, but that hadn't suprised anyone seeing that the two of them were all they ever had during their time away at boarding school. Twin siblings were always closest to one another than they were anyone else. Ethan had spent a brief period of time in Harmony about a year ago. Once he was back home, it didn't take long for the publicity to get a hold of his mother's secret; that Ethan was possibly a Bennett. Although that fact proved to be false, those simple words that Cassandra spoke to him after the faux-paternity revealation would forever be arched into the back of his mind.  
  
*Love is never about a family name, or where the person comes from. It's something pure from the heart that you feel for the person because of who they are, not what they represent.*  
  
Ethan still admits that if it weren't for those heart-felt words coming from his sister after he thought he was a Bennett, he'd be lost. But that was in the past, along with his relationship with Gwen Hotchkiss. The woman he thought he had loved.  
  
"Right." he answered with a soft smirk. "So Cassie," he began shortly. "the jet landed like ten minutes ago. Are we ever going to get off our asses and leave the airport? Or is this your new home?" he chuckled lightly on his last words.  
  
"Hey, that ain't too bad of an idea!" she cried out playfully. "This jet is actually quite.. nice."  
  
"Yeah.. right." he remarked, holding back his laughter. "I'd figure you for more of the penthouse type."  
  
"Actually," she began lightly, removing the glass from her lips. "you figured right. I already have this beautiful, two bedroom penthouse set up on the North side of Harmony."  
  
"Wow, it must be pretty nice for you to be giving it good compliments," Ethan chuckled mischieviously. "Seriously though, why two bedrooms?" he questioned, as the two vaccated their seats, leaving the jet.  
  
"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. You remember Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, right? Well, she's going to be rooming with me for awhile. The girl decided to move out of her home while going to college, but you know Pilar, she's always worrying about her children, so she asked me to room with her daughter. Besides, you know me.. I could never refuse anything that woman asked of me." she lied on her last comment. Although Cassandra wasn't willing to admit it, she was always willing to lend a helping hand.  
  
"Right." he chuckled silently to himself. "So, this girl.. Theresa, tell me about her?" he questioned, suddenly feeling intrigued by Pilar's eldest daughter.  
  
"You obviously don't remember her. Hell, how could you? You were always wrapped up in your own little world with Gwen Hotchkiss." she chuckled mischieviously, remembering how Ethan used to follow Gwen around all the time, picking roses out of the garden and giving them to her. "Anyway, what would you like to know?"  
  
"Knowing you, you'd probably give me her life story, so.. why don't you just, give me the basics, hmmm?"  
  
Cassandra rolled her eyes at Ethan's sarcasm before giving him the 411 on Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald. "Ah, let's see.. she's the twenty year old daughter of our housekeeper, Pilar Lopez-Fitzgerald. She has long, flowing dark hair, her eyes are the color of chenut brown. She's probably only a few inches shorter than myself. She's a very sweet, very compassionate young woman who strongly believes in god, and the fates. Like me, she's completely in love with fashion, which she's majoring in at Harmony U. at the moment..."  
  
Ethan chuckled humurously at his sister, "Sheesh Cassie, I only asked for the basics. And what do you give me? Her biography. It sounds to me almost like your writing a book on the girl. What's up with that?"  
  
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all." she lied.  
  
Ethan took notice at how Cassandra had looked away from him as she was talking. From that, he could always tell that she was lying. "Your lying, Cassie." he remarked boldly, as her head shot up, staring coldly into his ocean blues. "Oh, come on! You've never been able to lie to me and actually get away with it, what's the use in trying now? So give me the straight up. What's going on with you?"  
  
"Okay, okay!" she cried out boldly. "You know that I love Pilar like she was my own mother, but still, I'm a very cautious person. I always have been. So I did some checking up on the girl to see if there was anything suspicious about her, or even something I might need to know about her."  
  
"You what?!" he was clearly shocked that his twin would do such a thing. "You know Pilar as well as I do, Cassie. You know that she would NEVER allow her children to get mixed up with anything dangerous, or whatever it was you were hoping to find out about Theresa."  
  
"I know, I know! I was just, I wanted to be careful, you know? Besides, I came up empty handed."  
  
"And that should suprise you?" he questioned sarcastically, rolling his eyes.  
  
"Can we please just drop this, Ethan?" she pleaded with him.  
  
Ethan and Cassandra continued their conversation as they made their way up the terminal, and into the main lobby of the airport. Making their way towards the luggage area, they waited silently for their luggage to pass through.  
  
"Do you need a lift?" Ethan questioned lightly.  
  
"Actually, I think I'm just going to, take a walk.." she decided at last minute. "Do you think maybe you could take my bags, and I'll pick them up later on at the mansion?"  
  
"Sure." he agreed. "I'll talk to you later."  
  
"Much later!" she yelled after him playfully. Approaching the exit, she tried to remember her reasons for coming back to Harmony, yet she continusly drew a blank. "God, I hate this town." she moaned, before leaving the airport.  
  
  
  
Noah Bennett sat in the living room of his brand-new apartment, switching through the channels on his television in search of something actually worth watching. After more than ten minutes of channel surfing, Noah threw the remote on the floor, moaning deeply. His eyes roamed viciously over the room, in search of something that could possibly occupy his mind. Shortly, he spotted a magazine lying openly on a nearby table. He leaned across the couch, grabbing the magazine as he rummaged through it quickly, he soon threw that on the floor alongside the remote control. He fell against the couch, eyes on the ceiling as his mind wandered to explict possibilities of what he could be doing on this wonderful June morning.  
  
"A morning walk, perhaps?" he questioned himself aloud.  
  
A small smile soon formed at the corner of his lips at the thought of a morning walk in Harmony. He could imagine it now; the bright sun shining down on him as a light breeze blew threw him at every step he took. Beautiful children playing in the park with their friends as their parents watched from afar.  
  
"Yes, yes! That's exactly what I need." he quickly moved off of the couch, searching for his shoes.  
  
After a few moments, he found his shoes as he proceeded to slip them upon his feet. He grabbed his black leather coat off the couch. He stood in front of the mirror in the living room, reviewing his appearance. He sported a pair of sand-white khaki pants, toped with a grey, sleeveless shirt, which showed off his strong, tanned arms. Slipping his coat over his shoulders, and quickly running his fingers through his dark hair, he soon left the apartment for a morning walk.  
  
  
  
Gwen Hotchkiss sat peacefully on the leather couch of the Hotchkiss mansion, with her knees hugged tightly to her chest. She looked like she'd been crying.. and she was. She never thought that she could mess her life up so terribly, yet.. she eventually had. Why couldn't she just listen to her mind, instead of following her heart? She could've actually of had something with Ethan.. only if she would've tried hard enough. But she didn't.. she couldn't. All she ever wanted was a man that would love her.. a man she could build a life with.. have children with. She could've had all of that with Ethan; but no-- she fell for Hank Bennett. A man who claimed her heart and broke it all in a matter of moments.  
  
"I.. I can't do this to myself. I have to be strong." she murmured aloud, moving out of her position on the couch, and approaching the the staircase. "I can't let what Hank did to me ruin my life.." she slowly sat on the bottom step, sighing heavily. "No, I won't let it! I'm Gwen Hotchkiss. I'm strong-willed, I've NEVER been weak.. so why start now?"  
  
She leaned back against the staircase, her head lying softly on the third step. She gently closed her eyes, letting her mind wander to unlimited possibilities. What her life would've been like without both Ethan and Hank. Where she would be at this very moment, who she would be with. Would she have a family? Children? She would've loved to be somewhere else other than Harmony right now, but she had an obligation. Her family needed her.. her father's company needed her. Through it all, she simply didn't care anymore. She'd given up on love and the once-in-a-lifetime happily every after fairy-tale. The only thing she looked forward to now was her friends; Cassandra and Sheridan. Her family. And her job.  
  
Where Gwen was usually modeling designer clothing almost every day of the year, today was different somehow. Her blonde hair was piled atop her head in a messy ponytail. She wore no-make and looked as if she'd only had a few hours of sleep. She wore an old pair of blue jeans, and an lavendar colored tank-top. Literally, she looked like shit.. but at the same time, she posessed a certain beauty.  
  
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Figuring that the hired help would answer the door, Gwen stayed seated in her position, ignoring her surroundings. The person at the door continued to knock, and after the fourth, maybe fifth knock, Gwen realized that there was NO way this person was going to give up, nor would the hired help answer the front door, so she lazily vaccated her spot on the staircase, slowly approaching the door.  
  
As the knocks grew louder and more violent, Gwen groaned stubbornly, "Hold your damn horses! I'm coming, I'm coming!"  
  
"Could you possibly get any slower?" the person moaned under his breath.  
  
Opening the door, Gwen didn't even look up to meet her vistor's eyes, "What the hell do you-" she suddenly stopped in mid-sentence when she locked eyes with her vistor. "YOU!" 


End file.
